Samford 55, Eastern Michigan 51
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- For the fifth time this season, the Samford basketball team overcame a 10-point deficit to rally for a thrilling come-from-behind victory. Friday's comeback win was held at the Pete Hanna Center and featured a 55-51 triumph against the Eastern Michigan Eagles. The game was Samford's final non-conference matchup of the regular season and extended the Bulldogs' winning streak at home to three.
"This was a tough win and obviously this team has some resiliency, but we can't keep living on the edge like this," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. "We're getting ready to start the bulk of our conference season and we have eight games in January, five of which are on the road. If we can't play more consistently for longer stretches, then we're not going to be able to come back. We need to be more consistent."
Samford (9-5) trailed Eastern Michigan (2-10) by 10 points, 31-21, with 18:45 to play in the second half before using a quick 14-4 run to tie the game at 35-35 with 14:06 remaining.
During the Bulldogs' rally, Jeffrey Merritt, Andy King and Josh Bedwell all drained 3-point shots, senior Josh Davis connected on a pair of free throws and Gregg Wooten completed a 3-point play to ignite Samford's rally. The Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 34-22 in the second half of play and knocked down 12-of-13 attempts from the free-throw line in the final period.
Samford was led in scoring by Wooten's 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs sophomore from Memphis, Tenn., was also 4-of-5 from the charity stripe and added three steals and a pair of rebounds. Eight of Wooten's 13 points were scored in the second half.
Davis and Merritt both finished with 11 points apiece Friday. Davis connected on all six of his free-throw attempts in the game and tallied three rebounds and a trio of steals. Merritt turned in a 4-of-6 shooting performance from the field and littered the stat sheet with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
Eastern Michigan was led in scoring by senior forward Brandon Bowdry's 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field. The Eagles' 6-foot-6 native of St. Louis, Mo., paced his team with 36 minutes of playing time and registered six steals and three assists. Darrell Lampley, Eastern Michigan's speedy point guard, added an additional 12 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals.
The Eagles made their first four field-goal attempts of the game and jumped out to an early 11-5 lead in the contest. Eastern Michigan shot 54.5 percent from the field in the first half and took a 29-21 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
Samford only shot 33.3 percent from the floor in the opening period, but turned in a 50-percent outing in the final half to pull through with the victory.
With 1:52 remaining in the game, Eastern Michigan held a 49-47 lead until the Bulldogs' Davis stole the ball from Antonio Green and charged down the court for a game-tying layup. Samford then knocked down four straight free throws to take a 53-49 advantage.
The Eagles' Lampley would trim the Bulldogs' lead down to 53-51 with five seconds to play, but then Davis secured the four-point victory by making both of his free throws prior to Eastern Michigan's final heave at the buzzer.
Eastern Michigan out-rebounded Samford 26-19 and outscored the Bulldogs 20-12 in the paint, but Samford dominated the Eagles in bench scoring 27-2 and finished with a 23-6 advantage in points off turnovers. The Bulldogs forced Eastern Michigan into 21 miscues, while Samford committed 16 turnovers.
Friday's game was only the second all-time meeting between Samford and Eastern Michigan. With the win, the Bulldogs improved their record to 2-0 against the Eagles.
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin their 2011 Southern Conference schedule with a road contest against the UNC Greensboro Spartans.
College of Charleston 91, Tennessee 78
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Seniors Andrew Goudelock and Donavan Monroe combined for 58 points to lead College of Charleston to a 91-78 upset of 2010 NCAA Elite Eight participant Tennessee Friday afternoon before a crowd of 17,794 orange-clad fans at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Cougars (9-4) claimed their first road victory at a major conference school since 1995, ironically a 55-49 win over UT in the very same venue in the NIT first round. Goudelock, Monroe and Co. couldn't miss from any part of the floor as CofC silenced the building with its long-range shooting ability knocking down nine of its season-high 14 three-pointers in the ballgame in a first half that seemed to rattle the Volunteers (9-4) - and they were never the same for the rest of the way.
The Cougars led by as many as 20 points at the 9:02 minute mark on a three by Goudelock, 32-15. He turned in a game-high 31 points and recorded his 2,000th career point with a three-pointer over UT's Melvin Goins with 11:58 to go. Goudelock didn't find a shot he didn't like, going 10-of-15 from the floor, 6-of-7 from three-point land and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Monroe added 27.
UT, who was ranked as high as No. 7 in both national polls after wins over Villanova and Pittsburgh, lost their third non-conference home game in December, only the fifth such loss in Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl's six seasons. He was ejected after picking up his second technical foul with 5:25 remaining in regulation and the Cougars stayed composed as Goudelock drained 3-of-4 charity makes to push the lead to 79-63.
Junior Antwaine Wiggins, who returned home to the Volunteer State, played with extra motivation in front of a hometown crowd of family and high school friends with back-to-back three-pointers to open the game on a 6-2 run for the Cougars. Wiggins and Goudelock went 5-for-5 from beyond the arc in the first five minutes of play. Wiggins and senior Jeremy Simmons contributed to the balanced scoring attack with 15 and 11 points respectively.
The Cougars responded well to a motivational speech given by former CofC star and NBA player Anthony Johnson (1993-97) on Wednesday during practice at Carolina First Arena, who emphasized senior leadership and playing a zone defense. CofC would force UT to an opponent season-low 37.5 percent shooting from the floor (30-of-80) and 27.8 percent from downtown (5-of-18).
Scotty Hopson, who paced Tennessee with 24 points, scored 10-straight points to get the Vols within seven, 37-30, with 5:15 to go in the first half. They would cut it down to as few as five points after halftime, but never came closer. It was UT's worst home loss in double-digits since an 18-point loss to Kentucky in Southeastern Conference play in 2009.
Up next, the Cougars will ring in the New Year at 2010 CBI quarterfinalist Morehead State (8-6) for a Sunday, Jan. 2 road contest at 4:30 p.m. (ET) in Morehead, Ky.
The Citadel 67, Chowan 53
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Point guard Cameron Wells exploded for game-high 22 points and lead a trio of players in double figures as The Citadel emerged with a 67-53 victory over Chowan University at McAlister Field House on Friday afternoon. Wells was joined by fellow senior classmates Bryan Streeter (11 points) and Zach Urbanus (10 points) as the Bulldogs won their fourth game at home in front of 1,095 on-hand. Wells came through with 14 points after the intermission as the Cadets scored the most second half points (41) since a meeting with Western Carolina on Feb. 18, 2010.
The Bulldogs (5-8) caught fire in the second half, hitting 14-of-28 (.500) from the field, after a dismal shooting opening frame where they managed only eight total field goals. Wells led the way by virtue of hitting 6-of-12 from field goal range to go along with six rebounds. Streeter also had a solid outing for the Cadets, hitting 5-of-7 from the floor and shared a game-high five offensive rebounds with teammate Mike Groselle. Urbanus rounded out double-digit scorers with 11 points, hitting one 3-pointer in the process and pulled down six rebounds. The Citadel was keyed by a 52-35 edge in rebounds, behind 10 boards from Groselle. In total six players finished with six or more rebounds including Austin Dahn (7), Mike Dejworek (7) and Streeter (6).
Chowan was led statistically by the efforts of Quinton McDuffie who scored 16 points to go along with 11 rebounds. He was joined offensively by Charles Rhodes and Travis Williams, who scored nine points apiece. McDuffie, who converted 7-of-18 field goal attempts, was one of six Hawks to finish with multiple field goals. The Bulldogs defense clamped down in the second half and held Chowan to 39.1 percent shooting, as the Hawks finished 20-of-58 (34.5%) for the game. Chowan now falls to 1-7 on the season in the loss.
"Every team goes through a crossroad at some point and time during the season." said head coach Chuck Driesell. "And when that happens a coach needs to challenge their team and I did exactly that. I asked them what kind of team they want to be this year, because ultimately it is their team. For some of them it is their last time around and they had to decide if they want to be a team that really understands how to play the game, and more importantly execute and make shots while playing with passion and emotion. They really came out and showed me something after I issued these series of challenges."
The Citadel put together a 28-6 run over the first 7:28 of the second half to build a 54-32 lead and would never look back. Wells scored 13 points during the stretch, including five from the free throw line, and teamed offensively with Dahn who added five points as the Cadets broke a 26-26 tie at the intermission.
Constant defensive pressure by Driesell's squad limited Chowan to six field goals over the final 11:23 of the game, as The Citadel maintained a double-digit lead for a bulk of the second half. The Dogs largest lead, 57-35, came at the 10:32 mark when freshman point guard DeVontae Wright found Groselle for the backdoor layup.
"This team has had a tendency to go in spurts and droughts where we don't score," added Driesell. "This is not the first time that this has happened and for a while there I thought that we had gotten through that, but unfortunately that was not the case in the first half tonight. You can point to other instances, against Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina, that we went long periods without scoring. You can't do that and expect to put away a feisty team like Chowan by having those long droughts."
The Bulldogs jumped out to an 11-5 lead, behind seven early points by Urbanus before a Hawks rally trimmed the advantage to one point with 11:41 remaining in the frame.
Groselle answered with a layup and Wells followed with a 3-pointer as The Citadel took a 20-14 lead with just over nine minutes in the half. It marked the final field goal for the Cadets as the combination of Wells, Dejworek, Groselle and Streeter accounted for six free throws. McDuffie scored six of the Hawks final 12 points of the frame to help Chowan draw even, 26-26, as both teams headed to the locker room.
The Citadel returns to action on Sunday afternoon when they play at Clemson for a game slated to begin at 4 p.m.